Digital Governance PDF

DIGITAL GOVERNANCE DIGITAL GOVERNANCE Governance can be defined as the act or process of governing or overseeing the control and direction of something (such as a country or an organization). For federal agencies, digital governance refers to the internal systems and processe...

DIGITAL GOVERNANCE DIGITAL GOVERNANCE Governance can be defined as the act or process of governing or overseeing the control and direction of something (such as a country or an organization). For federal agencies, digital governance refers to the internal systems and processes we use to manage our digital presence, including:  Establishing clear operating 1 rules DIGTAL 2 Defining responsibilities and lines of authority GOVERNANCE Creating mechanisms to ensure 3 those rules and authorities are followed Why is Digital Governance important? Digital governance clarifies who’s responsible for the management and operation of your agency’s websites and digital services. It includes content, design, technical infrastructure, security, funding, and product, project, and program management. A strong governance structure improves public trust through better organizational performance, and better customer outcomes. Data Practices in the Social Domain Municipalities collect and manage countless personal data: to begin with from several basic administrations that are part of Dutch legislation (of persons, income, and vehicles, for instance), but also as a result of the provision of services and the issue of permits. People who qualify for a service from the social policy domain are obliged to submit a whole range of personal data.  All these data are received and stored in different ways and fall under the responsibility of various departments within the municipalities. For this reason, many municipalities want to set up a data warehouse, in which they can bring all data Data together in a structured manner. Their expectation is that this will make “joint analyses,” warehouse “early detection,” and “adjustments” possible  Dashboards Once there is a well-developed data warehouse, the expectation is that data can be better analyzed and presented, especially in the form of municipal dashboards: a collection of interactive and continuously actualized data presented in histograms, pie charts, and other known statistical visualizations.  Quality, Ethics, and Privacy The data applications currently carried out in the social policy domain have two related, problematic sides: the quality of the data and the analytical models used are disputable, while questions about ethical and privacy frameworks remains unanswered.  Data Data quality in data governance means the degree to which data in a system is accurate, consistent, quality reliable, and relevant for a particular use. In the context of all fraud experiments, for instance, it is unclear whether an irregularity in the data indicates fraud, administrative illiteracy of clients or a failing municipal bureaucracy.  While governance policies and procedures set the framework for maintaining and improving data Data quality, the quality of data itself directly influences the effectiveness of these governance initiatives. quality Here’s why: Accelerating informed decision-making Ensuring regulatory compliance Boosting operational efficiency Enhancing customer satisfaction Facilitating risk management  Ethics and Privacy Data Privacy. “Data privacy is focused on the use and governance of personal data—things like putting policies in place to ensure that consumers’ personal information is being collected, shared and used in appropriate ways.” Data Ethics. “…the norms of behavior that promote appropriate judgments and accountability when acquiring, managing, or using data, with the goals of protecting civil liberties, minimizing risks to individuals and society, and maximizing the public good.” While they are different, they are related and the three together are what provide “good hygiene” for data stewardship.  Involving Citizens Despite the many unsolved problems with data governance in the social policy domain, the ultimate goal of the Dutch municipalities seems to remain the same: a gradual development toward data steering as “the new normal,” in which the use of dashboards and predictive analytics is embedded in the regular municipal processes The challenges concerning data quality, ethics, and privacy are seen as important operational issues that can and will be solved in the long term with some patience.